Stay
by gabby227
Summary: It had been a year since Damon had left, at Elena's request.  Now he calls her up, wanting to come back.  Slightly AU.


He was gone. I still couldn't believe it. It had been a whole year since I had had the big fight with Damon. That night would stay forever seared in my mind – I would never be able to forget it, no matter how long I lived. I was the one who made him go away, and I knew it. Things had fallen apart since he left, too. Stefan and I were no longer together. We both remained living at the boarding house, although we were no longer on speaking terms. I hated that, too – I hated the fact that we both lived in this house but we didn't talk – we didn't even see each other anymore. He avoided me every chance he got. He was barely home anymore.

I loved them both. I was in love with them both. That was the reason that Stefan and I had broken up in the first place. It wasn't fair to toy around with them, and I know they both hated each other. They hated each other because of me. I couldn't choose, and I couldn't give Stefan the answer that he wanted to hear. That's when we ended it. But ever since we broke up, I sat in Damon's empty room, wondering what he was doing, or where he was, and how he felt.

I'll never forget that night. I told him that I was capable of protecting myself, and I was tired of him playing the white knight. I told him to get out – and that's exactly what he did.

I laid on his bed, or what used to be his bed, that evening and was alone with my thoughts. Even though it was a year later, I still missed him the way I did when he left – actually, I probably missed him more. Part of me felt like it had died when he walked out that door. Not only did I miss him, I missed the friendship that I had had with both of the Salvatore brothers.

My phone rang just then and it brought me out of my thoughts. Honestly, it scared me a little bit. I reached into my jeans pocket and pulled it out, looking at it. My heart practically jumped when I saw his name on the caller ID; it was Damon.

"Damon?" I asked, and I heard him chuckle. It was music to my ears.

"Hey," he answered softly.

I wasn't sure what to say, what to think. He had gone an entire year without contacting me. No calls, not even a single text. What was he playing at?

"Damon, do you realize how long it's been?" I asked him, testing the waters.

"Look, Elena," he said, his voice soft. "I have to come back to Mystic Falls for a little while. I wanted to make sure that it was okay that I came back to the boarding house."

"I can't make you stay away, Damon."

"I know, but the way things ended between us, I want to make sure that you're comfortable."

"Damon, Stefan and I are no longer together," I said hurriedly. Why did I just say that? I wasn't going to, but I did.

"What happened?" His voice was soft, almost sincere.

I wasn't sure how to answer that. Should I tell him the truth? I wasn't sure how he would take it – if he would hurry back home to expect me waiting for him, or what. I sighed before deciding to tell him the truth.

"I…we broke up because…I love you, Damon."

There was a moment of silence, and he wasn't saying anything. I wasn't even sure that Damon had heard me. After a few more minutes, he still hadn't said anything, so I asked, "Are you there?"

"I guess I just never expected you to admit it," he said finally. I raised my eyebrows.

"Admit it? You knew?"

"It was clear, Elena. I saw it from miles away. You were in love with us both, and you didn't want to turn into Katherine. That seems to be your greatest fear. But I tell you this: you could never be Katherine. From the moment that I first saw you, I knew you weren't her. You two are very different."

"That's funny," I said sarcastically, "because Katherine and I look the same. I don't know how you say I'm not like her…"

"I was in love with Katherine Pierce for over a century, Elena. You are nothing like her – and I knew it. I've felt drawn to you for a long time, Elena, and not because your resemblance to Katherine. You have fire and passion, and…you love me back. That's different. Katherine wasn't – isn't the loving type. She played with both Stefan and me, and she never loved either of us. She wasn't genuine like that."

"Yeah, well…" I started, trying to think of something to say to him back. I was both comforted and hurt by the fact that he knew I wasn't Katherine. Why was I hurt, though? It didn't make any sense, not even to me.

"Listen," he said, breaking the silence, "I'm about twenty miles away from the boarding house. I'll be there soon – then we can talk."

I sat on the bed, up by the headboard, with my chin on my knees. I was so nervous. It was at that moment that I decided I needed to call Stefan – we weren't exactly on speaking terms at the moment but I didn't want him to come home to discover that his brother was here. Tensions were extremely high.

I dialed his number and right when I thought he wasn't going to answer it, he did, "What do you want, Elena?"

I rolled my eyes; I was sick of him being so impolite lately, "Look, Stefan, I know you don't want to talk to me right now but you just needed to know. Damon is in town and he's going to be staying at the boarding house."

"Why?"

"I don't know. My guess would be that he has something to do here."

"Okay. I'm sure that you two will be very happy together."

I rolled my eyes again, "Would you stop with the self pitying act, Stefan? You're not the only one hurting right now, you know."

"Who are you doing to pick, Elena? The sooner that you pick someone, the sooner the rest of us can get on with our lives."

"Fine."

"Just leave me alone, Elena." And with that, he hung up. I looked at my phone for a moment before I chucked it across the room. I was so seriously pissed off. Last year I might've thought that Stefan was good – he was accountable for all his actions and he had a pure heart, but he felt guilt for everything, and even though he looked like he had everything under control, he didn't. He really didn't, and I could finally see that clearly now.

The difference between Damon and Stefan – even though there were several, this one stuck out in my mind –is the fact that Damon gave into his impulses, he didn't have many. Stefan had a whole bunch. He was probably the most obsessive person I had ever met. I had known for a while that the only thing about me that had appealed to Stefan was the fact that I looked like Katherine.

"Where's my little brother?" The voice came out soft and I almost wasn't sure that it was Damon. I glanced across the room and there he was, leaning against the doorframe. My heart almost jumped right out of my chest.

"Stefan's probably out getting wasted. We're not exactly on speaking terms these days."

"Wow, living in the same house and not speaking. So why do you still live here?"

I sighed, "Ever since Jenna found out about all this supernatural stuff, she and I have had a strained relationship. I always just felt a little more comfortable here."

He nodded, understanding. He came closer to me and said, "I saw your phone is over there, smashed. What happened to it?"

"I threw it at the wall," I answered honestly.

I could see that I had peaked his curiosity, "Why?"

"Stefan pissed me off."

"You talked to my brother recently? I thought you guys weren't on speaking terms."

"I wanted him to know that you were going to be here. Tensions are high, and I just don't want to witness some kind of brother fight." That was the truth. I knew that if Stefan knew that Damon was here, he wouldn't want to be here.

A few moments later, he was sitting on the bed next to me, watching me closely.

"Why'd you come back, Damon?" I asked him seriously. He looked at the floor.

"I've got business."

"Yeah, so I gathered. What business?"

"You." He said the word quietly, almost too quietly. I almost didn't hear what he said.

"You've been gone an entire year, with no calls or texts, or not even an email, because of the fight we had that night, but you came back for me?" I asked incredulously.

He nodded slowly, and I had to ask him, "Why?"

"I just had a bad feeling about you, Elena. I had a feeling that something crushing had happened to you – did Stefan dump you?" He seemed very concerned.

"It was more mutual. He couldn't handle the fact that I was …I was in love with his brother." After it came out I felt a little embarrassed, but he didn't look at me any differently. He just watched me with his crystal blue eyes and it looked like he could see straight to my soul. The way he was looking at me made me feel very uneasy.

"Look, Elena, I know that I made you really upset by trying to protect you. And I'm sorry for that. But I'm here now…and if you ask me to, I will stay."

I watched him carefully and then said, "Yes, Damon. Please, stay."


End file.
